DX: Definitely.
JF: And then also time is…I don’t think anyone can imagine until they’re in the middle of a project and they’re personally involved in it can see how it just becomes really draining. I feel bad; sometimes I’ve been evil and packed a whole day and forgot to schedule in lunch. And it just gets to be a lot, especially when an artist is releasing an album and, if you can imagine, the person gets up at 5 am and then does a morning television show and then goes to radio and then does whatever interviews and then goes to an in-store and then goes to do more radio at night, and in the middle of that you’re shooting videos and doing rehearsals) and you’re getting on planes.…everyone is human. I think sometimes we forget that. It’s like, “You have to do this and we have to do that,” and the person is like, “I haven’t slept more than two hours a night for the past 3 weeks.” You need you’re health; without your health, you’re useless to everybody.

DX: That makes a lot of sense… not forgetting the human factor.
JF: Right. It’s very easy to forget that. You’re thinking, “Oh we’re going to get this and the person is going to be everywhere, and it’s going be great,” and the person is just sitting there like, “Umm, hi” and nodding off during interviews, or as soon as they hit the car cause they know they only have 45 minutes till they get to the next spot. As hard as I’ll work when I go along with someone on a promo trip, I don’t have to have to smile in peoples’ faces. I don’t have to be smart. You know? I don’t have to say the right thing. With a lack of sleep and a lack of food and not taking care of yourself, it just wears on a person. I know I kinda went off on a tangent with that question, but I think that with the repetition of the same questions and the same interviews the Internet has changed everything cause now you can do one thing and everyone will know the answers to those 10 questions.

DX: I think every writer has had the experience of having time with an artist and being excited and energetic about an interview; only to have the artist talk as if they’ve had the same conversation 18 times in the last hour.
JF: Right! That’s the thing. A lot of people, [with] a lot of interviews don’t really make anything their own. It’s kinda weird…there’s nothing worse than when you put an artist on with somebody and they’re only asking questions that are answered already in the biography. It’s like “Can you expand just a little bit more…find something that is a little bit more interesting?” And then people want to complain because the artist is not energetic, or they gave a bland interview or something. But all of a sudden artist isn’t thinking anymore… "My inspiration was blah blah blah, the first time I ever performed was blah blah blah, I would love to collaborate with blah blah blah, here’s what you can expect on my album, blah blah blah." [Laughs] Basically, I just wrapped up 70% of the interviews that are going to take place.

DX: [Laughs] What’s your perspective on the overall quality/integrity reflected in hip hop journalism these days?
JF: I know this is going to sound really politically correct, but I think that in everything you have your really talented people, and you have people who just don’t do their homework, and are coasting and think that things are very easy. I think that we’re in a day and age where anybody can become anything. A lot of people don’t do research and don’t put time and effort into really seeing what is good journalism, or what is good sentence structure. There’s a lot more people in writing now, than ever before. There are people that are not necessarily trained in writing. Sometimes it can be very very entertaining, but not exactly journalism.

DX: Well-said. When it comes to Hip Hop, how much of a global market is there? I mean I know Glastonbury was huge, etc, but outside of umm…
JF: The usual suspects?

DX: Yes! Perfect…let’s call them the usual suspects…
JF: OKay. [Laughs]

DX: Outside of the usual suspects, how much of a publicity blip do American artists make on a global scale?
JF: It’s still not there. I think in certain other countries they just have a different aesthetic. They just like different things. So you’re not going to see the excitement over someone who’s more of a “hardcore rapper”. Or anything like that. Europe has a different sensibility. They still like their dance music lets say. They still like more pop-leaning things. And they like their celebrities. Nothing is automatic over there when it comes to Hip Hop, it really isn’t. You can be a huge artist but if your album doesn’t have very honestly a pop sound to it that they can really get into or sing along with to fit into their sensibilities it doesn’t matter how big of a star they think you are; you’re still not selling. They don’t buy just to buy. They definitely can be a fan of a song. I feel like if you’re a fan of a song, people should buy the album. However, if there’s no song that fits into that pop sensibility, they’re like, “Oh okay, that’s cool… but we’re not gonna buy it. W still love you but no thank you.” Continued on page 3 »